Section 531.20.12. Ticket validation requirements.

         20.12(1) All claims for prizes are subject to validation by the lottery. To be a valid ticket or share and eligible to receive a prize, all of the following requirements must be satisfied.

            a.               The ticket or share must have been issued by the lottery directly or through a retailer, via a terminal, in an authorized manner.

            b.               The information on the ticket or share must correspond precisely with the lottery’s computer record.

            c.               The ticket or share serial number must appear in its entirety, and correspond, using a computer validation file, to the winning game play or plays printed on the ticket or share.

            d.               A ticket or share shall be void unless the ticket or share is printed on a paper stock roll that was validly issued to and used, at the time of the play, by the retailer from whom the ticket or share was purchased.

            e.               The ticket or share must not be produced in error, counterfeit in whole or in part, altered, mutilated, unreadable, tampered with in any manner, incomplete, blank or partially blank, miscut, or defective.

            f.                The ticket or share must pass all other security criteria determined by the lottery.

            g.               The ticket or share must not be stolen.

            h.               The ticket or share must not be canceled.

            i.                The ticket or share must pass additional validation requirements that may be stated in the specific game rules.

         20.12(2) In the event that a ticket or share fails to pass all of the validation criteria set forth in this rule and the specific game rules, it is invalid and ineligible for any prize. The lottery, in its sole discretion, may choose to pay a sum equal to the prize on an invalid ticket or share if the lottery can determine the prize that would have been won by the ticket or share by use of a symbol, code number, color code, or other mechanism. The lottery’s decisions as to whether a ticket or share is invalid and whether a sum equal to the prize on an invalid ticket or share will be paid are final. If the lottery determines that a ticket or share is not eligible to receive a prize or a sum equivalent to the prize amount, the lottery may replace the invalid ticket or share with a ticket or share of equivalent sale price from any current lottery game or refund the purchase price of the ticket or share. Replacement of the ticket or share, or refund of the purchase price, shall be the claimant’s sole and exclusive remedy.

This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code Supplement sections 99G.9(3), 99G.21, and 99G.31.